Security Council 'split on Syria'

[cal04]

WHILE the US and France are seeking a resolution to pressure Syria to cooperate with an investigation into the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, other members are asking for more time, The Washington Post said Wednesday.

Algeria, China and Russia believe it is premature to consider punishing Damascus before chief investigator Detlev Mehlis concludes his probe on December 15, officials from the US, United Nations and Europe told the daily.

Mr Mehlis, who led the four-month UN probe into the murder, was to outline on Wednesday the findings of the damning report he released last Thursday, which named senior Syrian security officials as suspects in the massive bomb blast that killed Hariri and 20 others in Beirut last February.

The 15-member Security Council was pursuing frantic negotiations to agree on a draft resolution that would demand immediate and full cooperation from Damascus with the UN probe.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17035368%255E1702,00.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. Wish the media would actually READ the report.

The report says senior LEBANESE AND Syrian security officials probably knew.

[ECH1969]

2. The Lebanese security apperatus was controlled by Syria

Hariri was likely ordered to be killed by someone or ones within the apperatus, the question is who?

The Interor Ministor of Syria would have had the best info on the subject suicided himself last week, so no help there.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Obviously you haven't read the report and are spouting AIPAC propaganda

and you are disregarding news reports that one of the sources of the Mehlis report is the Syrian version of Chalabi. The report does not call for sanctions, instead it asks for continuing the investigation:

Given the infiltration of Lebanese institutions and society by the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services working in tandem, it would be difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge.

9. It is the Commission’s conclusion that the continuing investigation should be carried forward by the appropriate Lebanese judicial and security authorities, who have proved during the investigation that with international assistance and support, they can move ahead and at times take the lead in an effective and professional manner. At the same time, the Lebanese authorities should look into all the case’s ramifications including bank transactions. The 14 February explosion needs to be assessed clearly against the sequence of explosions which preceded and followed it, since there could be links between some, if not all, of them.

10. The Commission is therefore of the view that a sustained effort on the part of the international community to establish an assistance and cooperation platform together with the Lebanese authorities in the field of security and justice is essential. This will considerably boost the trust of the Lebanese people in their security system, while building self-confidence in their capabilities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/21_10_05_mehlisreport.pdf

Why do you believe Bush and Condi Rice?

[converted_democrat]

3. Okay, to those with better knowledge of the situation than I.......

I have read that China & Russia have both hinted that if we were to go to Iran, they would step in. Does the same hold true for Syria? What will they do to us, if anything, if we go to Syria? I'm just worried that our country will pick a fight with Syria, and end up fighting Russia, or China.

[enigma000]

5. In the end, Syria is on its own

China may not sanction military action against Syria (just like they vetoed action against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo uprising in 1999)but Syria is of little strategic value to them as it has no oil. Besides, China cannot project its military forces that far.

Russia is an old ally of Syria, but I doubt they will protest too much, its not like the Russians don't have enough problems of their own right now.

The first step is for the UNSC to issue a warning anyway. I've read the just the threat of military action could make the Assad regime topple.

[converted_democrat]

14. Thank you for the explanation! n/t

[eissa]

21. I don't agree with this line

"just the threat of military action could make the Assad regime topple." Not by its people. For all their faults (and there are many), the Syrian government is generally popular with its people. It's a secular regime, there is little to no internal struggles (sectarian in-fighting, etc.), and plenty of security. Yes, that security is far-reaching, going into who you talk to and where you go, but given the neighborhood that they're in, most people I know there are far more willing to live with that than with constant and random bombings.

[K-W]

13. Syria is often referred to as "low hanging fruit" for the US,

because it its military is inconsequential and it has no major allies.

There is really nothing to stop the US from attacking Syria whenever it wants to.

[converted_democrat]

15. Thank you for explaining! n/t

[ozarkvet]

19. Other than its natural defenses

Lots of hills and valleys in Syria.

The real reasons any invasio, though:

1. Syrian border with Iraq leaks like a seive. Combatants flow in-and-out on a constant basis.

2. Syria harbors a lot of folks that cause Israel no end of grief. Bush is, per his Biblical beliefs, pro-Israel, almost no matter what.

[leesa]

26. The Syrian military is pretty strong to my understanding...and we have a

weak military. Besides they have allied with Iran.

[enigma000]

31. The Syrian Military: A Primer

http://www.meib.org/articles/0108_s1.htm

It's four years old, but I imagine it still is accurate.

I wouldn't catagorize the US military as weak; the navy and air force are in good shape. That's all you need for air strikes at command and control centres.

[annabanana]

4. It's not UNANIMOUS for "our side"?!?!?

Time to send in ol' Blunderbuss Bolton

[rocktivity]

6. "Who you comparing to Bolton, ya flea-bitten dadgummed idjit?

THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS!!!"

:headbang:
rocknation

[underpants]

10. Bolton outside the UN "Open that drawbridge!"

" *wham* Close it! Close it! Close it back up again! CLOOOOSE ITTTT!"

[ElectroPrincess]

7. Better clue in Bill O'Reilly that FRANCE really is an Ally ...

he and his moranic followers continue to boycott that fine country. ;)

But damn! I hope, however, that they stay the course on NOT wishing for any military action to be condoned by the UN. HOPE!

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. They are an enemy

:rofl:

[bemildred]

8. Gee, who could have predicted this? nt

[Roland99]

9. Bolton just needs to twist those arms a little harder. Must be distracted

by the threat of an upcoming indictment.

[annabanana]

11. from your fingertips to God's

............"eyes?"

[Roland99]

20. And the FSM's, too!

;)

[Chicago Democrat]

17. Go Russia Go! Go Russia! Go Russia!

Yay Russia! Screw Israel/AIPAC/BUSH!


Stupid reason to go war. Some rich Lebanese guy gets killed and I'm supposed to care whY?

[Peace Patriot]

18. So, we're going to destroy the economy of another Arab nation, by...

...imposing sanctions, under the guise of the U.N., bring its innocent people to their knees with hardships and lack of food and medicine, strip it of any meager defenses it may have, invade it, killing many more innocents, and subject its citizens to a US-Chalabi style occupation--because why? --because some of its security forces are out of control? On that logic, Nicaragua had a right to invade the United States over the covert war that these same Bush Cartel operatives conducted in Nicaragua against the express legal bar put upon them by Congress (the Iran-Contra scandal).

What on earth can be the justification for even talking about a military invasion of Syria--with all of its attendant horror (not to mention expense)--over a police matter?

I smell "aspens turning in clusters because they're roots are connected" myself--that Bushite smell of the burnt bodies of babies and children who have died for Holy Roman Empire II. Libby may take the fall for Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but the neocon/Likud conspiracy goes on, and it would not surprise me to learn that this bombing/assassination in Lebanon can be traced straight back to them.

Will we never learn? The horrendous destruction, loss of life and civil chaos in Iraq--where Halliburton & Co. cleaned the last dime out of our treasury long ago--started just like this, and for the same reason: creating opportunities for looting. They have bankrupted the United States, and every penny they are spending on this mad scheme is a deficit penny, to be paid for by the poverty, homelessness, starvation and deaths of our own citizens, when this economy comes crashing down. And they won't stop looting even then. They will loot our supermarket carts. They will steal the shoes off our feet and the coats off our backs. They will loot the last meal we have to give our children. They will take the food right out of their mouths. And they will be doing the same to the Syrians.

Thousands and thousands of Iraqi children died because of the sanctions. Many thousands more were killed by our bombs, when we invaded that prostrate country. (100,000 Iraqis killed by the bombings alone, according to the British doctors' report.) More are dying now because of the Hurricane Katrina-like chaos we have created, and from the neglect, and utter lack of ethical responsibility, we are showing there now--as the Cheney buddy no-bid contractors clean us and the Iraqis out of billions of unaccountable dollars.

It is a looting opportunity. It is a boondoggle. And it is being set up exactly as Iraq was set up.

Je me plus la guerre! Please God! No more war! Never again!

[eissa]

22. Since when has the bush administration

cared about any Arab, especially a nationalist like Hariri, to be so gung-ho about going to war to avenge his death? I smell distraction.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AngryAmish]

23. I suppose he had it coming

Really, there is a neutral UN report that one sovereign country had a rival politician in another country I want the UN to do something about that. I know Bush is Hitler. But his actions are wrong and we should not allow that. (Also, Syria is run by a minority junta who run a police state.)

[HuffleClaw]

25. GOOD

they know that this is a poor attempt to justify a 'nice little war' to further their agenda. and bush's little 'list of concessions (read: DEMANDS)' makes that pretty clear. i can't see china or russia budging from their position on this. they've got no interest in seeing the us gain more of a foothold over there.

[leesa]

27. Israel wants us to take out Syria...there is no other reason for the

invasion. Israel has been trying to provoke a response from Syria for a long time by invading their air space...an act of war. We don't give a rat's ass about the PM of Lebanon, but we are slaves to Israel's whim...what other country do we lavish with billions in loans that are wiped out every year in Congress?

[wordpix]

28. where is your source about these alleged loans to Israel?

I am really tired of the anti-Semitic propaganda.

[The Voice]

29. FYI

Loans with Repayment Waived

The United States has not canceled any of Israel’s debts to the U.S. government, but the U.S. government has waived repayment of aid to Israel that originally was categorized as loans. Following the 1973 war, President Nixon asked Congress for emergency aid for Israel, including loans for which repayment would be waived. Israel preferred that the aid be in the form of loans, rather than grants, to avoid having a U.S. military contingent in Israel to oversee a grant
program.

Since 1974, some or all of U.S. military aid to Israel has been in the form of loans for which repayment is waived. Technically, the assistance is called loans, but as a practical matter, the military aid is grant. From FY1974 through FY2003, Israel has received more than $45 billion in waived loans. (Egypt also receives some of its U.S. military assistance in the form of loans with repayment waived. In 1990, the United States canceled $6.7 billion in past military debts that Egypt owed to the United States.)

Source: The Congressional Research Service

[Behind the Aegis]

30. What a load of crap!

I am not surprised though! Yes, the US is a slave to the evil empire of Israel! Read the "Protocols" much?!

Israel does not NEED an unstable Syria. The risk of the Muslim Brotherhood seizing power is too great a risk. But glad to see that the ever powerful Israel is still at the reigns of the US government. :eyes: